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5 of 5 people found the following review helpful:
4.0 out of 5 stars
Worth reading as well as watching, Dec 21 2004
A few weeks back, in search of something good to watch at the video store, I picked up Kevin Macdonald's Touching the Void documentary from the shelf. As I was skeptically reading the back of the DVD case, the fellow standing next to me said that it was a "really good movie." I took him on his word and later disovered a movie that I have since been raving about to all who will listen. It is a riveting story in which an injured climber is left for dead on a Peruvian mountain and manages to crawl his way off. It sounds like fiction, but, as is often the case, this true story is incredible beyond what a writer could believable construct. So, when I found out that Joe Simpson (the climber left on the mountain) had written a book, Touching the Void about his harrowing adventure, I knew I needed to read it.The movie and the DVD extras take the viewer on an emotional path where one at first dislikes the arrongant and impetuous Simpson, while his climbing pal Simon Yates seems more sympathetic. However, as the movie continues and especially if you watch the Return to Siula Grande DVD extra, it becomes hard not to empathize with Simpson's reaction to returning to the place where he had faced so much trauma and to, in contrast, find Yates cold and unfeeling, as if the experience they shared so many years before no longer affected him personally. The end of the movie leaves one with the impression that Simpson, although understanding at what Yates did, does not really like Yates and does certainly not consider him a friend. The book, written several years earlier, certainly leaves a more positive impression of Yates. While Simpson admits to having written the book in part to clear Yates's name in the climbing communitry, his storytelling takes the reader beyond a defense of Yates's actions. In fact, Simpson's description of Yates's attempt to lower the injured Simpson down the mountain portrays an act that is nothing short of heroic. It is clear that his cutting the rope was a last, desperate resort to end a situation in which there was no way out. While the book and the movie both tell very closely the same story, reading the book and seeing the movie is neither a redundant experience nor an exercise in detecting differences in the two plots. In fact, the one enriches the story in the other. The maps and the first-person telling in the book complement the documentary-style script and the sweeping vistas caught on film.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
Gripping; couldn't put it down, April 8 2005
This was one novel that I could not put down. In a nut shell, this true life story is about Joe Simpson and the troubles he endured while mountaineering in Peruvian Andes. What makes the story so gripping is that this was no up the mountain; down the mountain story. Instead Joe takes us on a wild ride into his psyche as he encounters a few problems along the way, and how he manages to deal with them in a calm, cool, collected manner.Even though this book has been making the rounds in the rock climbing/mountaineering scene for years now, everyone, regardless of their backgrounds should give this book a read. It is a testament to the human spirit, as well as a never give up attitude. At the end of the book, all you'll be able to say is 'wow'.
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5.0 out of 5 stars
A rare first person account that completely captivates, Jun 18 2003
While I wouldn't exactly put this in the inspirational category, it is a true story of epic determination and courage that begins like so many typical muntaineering trips and turns tragic after a small mistake not out of the realm of any of us.
Set in the Andes, the narrative follows a pair of climbers up an underestimated route to the summit of a peak then after ruggling down a horrifying ridge the plot thickens. For fear of wrecking the story I will only mention that left for dead 50 feet down in a crevasse with a completely useless leg, the only thing that gives you any hope for this guy is that there are just too many pages unread for the story to end simply. The story is put forth in such detail that you're body aches sympathetically and you just want Joe to give it up. Even the mental torture expressed by Joe's partner, Simon, forced to give up any hope of Joe's survival will tear you apart. It's rivetting reading and you shouldn't start it unless you have time to finish it.
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